This invention relates to musical drum instruments, and more particularly concerns a device for the attachment to the drumhead that enhances the quality of the sound produced by the drum.
This invention concerns musical drums of the general type comprising a circular cylindrical sidewall shell supporting an upper or attack head and an opposed parallel lower or resonating head. The heads each consist of an outer rim associated with the shell and a drumhead membrane tauntly stretched upon the rim. The attack membrane has a preferred attack area centered therein. A plurality of tensioning devices are disposed upon the exterior surface of the shell to provide appropriate tension to the membranes.
Since the recent increased popularity of plastic and other synthetic drumheads, one of the most dominating considerations for drummers has become finding the most effective method of reducing or eliminating an undersirable phenomenon known as "drumhead ring". This phenomenon is characterized by distorted upper harmonic tonal over-rings that vary in pitch as successive impacts are applied to the attack drumhead, and when electric sound amplification systems are used to increase the volume of the drum, drumhead ring becomes significantly more noticeable.
One method of reducing this phenomenon is to place pillows, rugs or other materials inside the drum shell and in contact with the drumhead, but this method is unsightly, inconvenient, adversely affects the tonal quality of the drum and retards the projected sound volume of the percussion. There are also numerous commercial products available on today's consumer market, as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,244,266 and 4,325,281, that effectively reduce these upper harmonic tonal over-rings, but the majority of drummers today only use these drumhead deadening devices and ring reducers on the tom-toms and snare drums. It is still a common practice to muffle the bass drums by placing pillows or rugs inside the drum shell against the attack drumhead. An opening is cut into the resonating drumhead to adjust the material within the drum shell and to place a microphone within, but the ringing phenomenon is still produced by the resonating drumhead and transferred to the microphone and through the amplification system.